Importance of Himalayas
The importance of Himalayas in India lies in the fact that the Himalayan Mountain have proved to be the source of everything:
- it has given protection,
- maintained the continuity of her civilization,
- increased the fertility of the soil,
- caused rainfall,
- above all protected the country and its people from the piercing cold waves of Central Asia.
The Himalayas has played the important role of a foster mother for the Indians. The Himalayan mountain ranges stand like a mighty wall and protect India from foreign invasion.
The Himalayas act as a mighty climatic division. The moisture laden south-west monsoon winds are obstructed by the Himalayas. This causes abundant rainfall in different parts of the country. This rainfall helps agriculture.
The extremely cold wind blowing out from central Asia in winter cannot reach India because of the position of the Himalayas on the northern border.
Major rivers of Northern India which rise from the Himalayas are perennial. They are fed by snow fields. So the rivers are navigable throughout the year and have enough water for irrigation and hydel power generation.
The vast plains and deltas formed of alluvium brought down by these rivers are very fertile and a large variety of crops are grown there.
The Himalayas region is very rich in forest resources. The forests yield good timber. In some parts there are orchards, tea plantation, and medicinal plantations. For all these reasons, the Himalayas are valuable to the people living in India.
The evolution of Indian history and culture can rightly be understood with a proper appreciation of its geography. Hence, when we speak of the national boundaries of India we are tempted to speak of the importance of ‘the protective wall of the Himalayas‘ that may be said to have given to India the continuity of its civilization from the earliest times to our own times. Besides the Indus and its great tributaries, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra takes their rise on the Himalayas. It has afforded climatic protection too. Hence, it has provided the rain waters to the plains by stopping the moisture bearing winds; they prevent the piercing cold-winds of Central Asia from coining to India.
Shimla, Darjeeling, Dehradun and other major tourist attractions are located in the Himalayas.
These imposing mountain ranges of Himalayas did not cut off India with her neighbours. Hence, in the north-west there are important passes (Khaiber, Gomal and Bolan). Commerce, migration and invasion have recurrently come this way in historical times.